*Goats in the Ancient Near East and Their Relationship with the Mythology, Fairytale… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82531*

This 'dual' nature of the god ultimately resulted in the use of the symbol of the goat-fish (literally 'Carp-goat') for the god Enki or Ea [32] (Akkadian suḫurmašû; Neo-Sumerian Selekuid). Figures of this deity are named in certain apotropaic (averting evil) rituals [21]. Although no Assyrian monumental art of this deity has been found, the requirements for their manufacture (dimensions, gold leaf required etc.) are alluded to in Nimrud texts for a temple of Nabu at Kalhu [32]. Artefacts representing this deity are shown in **Figures 13**–**15**.

The boundary stones each show celestial objects (stars and crescent moons), monuments or temples and deities. On all three boundary stones, the goat-fish (curved or twisted horns and hooves) can be clearly distinguished from the dragon (which is generally depicted with straight horns, talons or claws and a snake-like body).

Similarities between the renditions of goat-fish include one front leg bent back and the other forward (slightly bent and lifted) (although both left leg and right leg forward can be seen), cross-hatchings used to indicate the scales of a fish, twisted splayed horns (except the foundation figurine, which may have had horns that are now broken off). All the boundary stones' goat-fish are without beards (goatees).

### **Figure 13.**

*Goats (Capra) - From Ancient to Modern*

symbolized as the (or a) fish [9].

centre was Babylon [19].

period, Marduk was elevated to the top of the Babylonian pantheon and his cult

Enki plays a larger role in the Epic of Creation. Here, it is explained, in the beginning, there were only two gods, Apsu (who represents the primordial waters under the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of the sea). They beget four generations of gods, who become noisy and unbearable. Apsu decides to put an end to their troublesome ways, but the plot is discovered by Ea 'who knows everything'. He puts Apsu and his evil vizier, Mummu, to sleep and then slays them. He then assumes the belt, crown and mantle of radiance, takes over the dwelling place of Apsu as his own, and there, with his spouse Damkina, creates Marduk. Marduk then proceeds to win all sorts of fantastic battles with the encouragement of his father, Ea, and is finally made the king of the gods. One of Marduk's actions is to

warns man about the flood and gives him instruction to build a boat.

create man (to do the work of the gods so that the gods can be at leisure).

shown below the god with water or fishes also represented.

In shorter myths, again Ea plays a role. Mostly as the 'one who knows everything'. These include the myth of Adapa (a priest of Ea in his cult temple at Eridu); the Epic of Anzu; the Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld and the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal. The relief and apotropaic figures below (**Figure 12**) depict the god Enki (Sumerian) or Ea (Akkadian). Enki was the god of productivity [31] and freshwater streams, springs and lakes, as well as the abzu (or apsu – the subterranean freshwater ocean on which the earth supposedly floated; [8, 31]) and, in this guise, was

Enki was also associated with wisdom, science, craftsmanship and magic and this part of his nature was symbolised by a goat [9]. Several stone reliefs and cylinder seal impressions were found showing goat bearers, a goat in the scene, or a goat

*(a) Enki represented as a fish-man in stone relief and (b) as an apotropaic figure (source unknown).*

Ea plays a role in several of the Mesopotamian myths. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, where aside from being mentioned as one of the gods that have made Gilgamesh wise, he is the god that breaks rank and warns the human Ut-napishtim (whom Gilgamesh seeks to reveal the secret of eternal life since Ut-napishtim survived the flood and has been made immortal) of the impending flood sent by the gods to destroy man. This role of Enki is again shown in the myth of Atrahasis, the Flood story. Here too, Enki

**16**

**Figure 12.**

*(a–c) Mesopotamian boundary stones of the Kassite era, 1600–1150 B.C.E. [38]. In (a) the goat-fish can be seen on the bottom right, in (b) in the top register, and in (c) in the top register.*

### **Figure 14.**

*(a) A goat-fish from Assur (housed in the Lowie Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley: [24]: Plate XV). (b) Foundation figurine of a suḫurmašû, from Assur (Of beige sun-dried clay and had an original coating of black wash). On the left side of the figurine is a one-line inscription that reads 'Come in, favourable hearing and compliance!' ([32]: Plate V).*

### **Figure 15.**

*A cylinder seal, from the late Babylonian era, possibly depicts a worshipper before divine images, including the suḫurmašû ([32]: Plate X) (housed in the Brooklyn Museum).*
